Electronic Gadgets...and Bob Iger Too: disneytim at the Consumer Electronics Show

[cellarhound]

Disneytim... See if you can get a date as to when they expect to Go Live with the new Disney.com...

It is the question that is floating in the air right now and no one seems to have an answer except sometime soon.

[Osky]

Originally Posted by cal4iri

I heard rumors of a new iPod. Maybe a cell phone iPod. Any news on that will be appreciated!

All of the new apple stuff will be released tomorrow at MacWorld in San Francisco. Job's keynote is at 9:00am. Word on the street is that they intentionally placed Macworld at the same time as CES this year so they could get the new products out at CES for people to look at following Job's keynote at Macworld, rather than having nothing exciting to show at CES because Macworld is the following week. Makes sense to me, whether it is true or not.

Very cool stuff coming from apple tomorrow, as well as a possible mention of something that will be out soon, but not tomorrow.

[Dustysage]

Thank you for keeping us all up to date Tim. This is one of the coolest threads ever.

I love the laptop that looks like a toilet seat cover.

[disneytim]

I'm BAAAAAACK!!!

I'm on sensory overload right now. Lot's of information to digest and edit from Bob Iger's keynote--plus Disney Online was good enough to give me an upclose look at the new Disney.com website (launching January 29th) and the new Pirates of the Caribbean Online game (due some time in the Spring).

I'll have a more in-depth report later (and some video clips probably tomorrow), but here's a few early observations:

The keynote was entertaining with Iger introducing Evangeline Lilly and Matthew Fox from Lost, as well as ESPN's Mike Tirico and POTC producer Jerry Bruckheimer. A glorified Disney infomercial to be sure, but Bob was pleasant and very at ease with the scripted material.

Yes, there were movie clips from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Ratatouille, but oddly, not Meet the Robinsons.

Pirates looks like a winner. Jack's back and very much alive (was this ever in doubt?). Here's a few things I observed at first glance:

Spoiler

--Yes, some of it takes place in Singapore.
--Yes, Elizabeth still wants Will (this from Jerry Bruckheimer himself).
--Jack appears to be more like the conniving rogue we loved in Curse of the Black Pearl, less prone to the cartoonish antics we saw in Dead Man's Chest.
--Jack and crew will try to save a ship from capsizing by running from one side of the deck to the other (ok, that's a cartoonish antic, but it looked kinda fun).
--In the climactic battle scene, Jack and Davy Jones will swordfight from atop a yardarm. The early CGI (even the brief glimpse I caught) is impressive.

There's more, I'm sure, but I need to give the clip a second look.

Ratatouille's animation is phenomenal, but so far the story doesn't wow me.

Spoiler

It's a "follow your dream" tale of a rat who longs to be a French chef. In the preview scene, Remy the rat is observing the goings-on in a restaurant kitchen while his "mentor," an imaginary chef (think Chef Boy-R-Dee as a Hitchhiking Ghost) coaches him on the finer points of running a kitchen. Remy watches a boy mopping the floor and dismisses him for not being a real member of the kitchen staff, but his imaginary buddy admonishes him because "anyone can cook." Remy then becomes frantic as the boy does just that, tossing ingredients into a boiling stewpot when no one is looking. There is sincerity and warmth to the scene, but Remy comes across as kind of bland.

I'm sure this point will be debated a lot, but the upcoming changes to Disney.com are NOT a move towards "Disney MySpace." Yes, there's a social-networking aspect to it with customizable screens, chat, games, friends lists and drop-in audio and video, but it's in such a controlled environment, comparisons to MySpace are misguided. If anything, it's more like Nick.com.

Those of you struggling with dial-up, be warned. The new Disney.com is engineered with the broadband user in mind.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online: I'm not a gamer, but I want to play this. It's intuitive enough for a casual gamer to jump right in and play and deep enough to keep a hardcore gamer entertained. And who doesn't want to form his own crew and go pirating?

My head is spinning . . . stay tuned . . .

[BFJen]

Yay!! Can't wait for more!

[Osky]

Originally Posted by disneytim

Those of you struggling with dial-up, be warned. The new Disney.com is engineered with the broadband user in mind.

I was afraid of that...

[Melonballer]

Thanks for the great thread.

[Osky]

Hey Tim, are you going to get tasered?

http://blogs.wsj.com/ces2007/2007/01...ge-bedfellows/

and a handful of Nascar-suited guys help volunteers experience a Tasering first-hand. That’s right, people are asking to be Tasered. They scream. They fall down. They get picked back up.

[disneytim]

Originally Posted by Osky

Hey Tim, are you going to get tasered?

http://blogs.wsj.com/ces2007/2007/01...ge-bedfellows/

Ummmm . . . . no.

I might visit with the Playmates though.

[dsnylndmom]

Thanks Tim! Great report and great info! You rock

[disneytim]

The New Disney.com:

On Disney.com's new website, the clumsiness and clutter of the old home page is gone--no more gliding Monorail, no more balloon pop-ups, no more ping-ping-ping-ping-ping as you move your mouse around. It's all been replaced by cleaner, more intuitive navigation. Using the menu bar at the top you can jump to different categories such as Movies, TV, Travel or Shopping. You can also use the "Disney For You" (left) or "Character World" (bottom) menus to customize your Disney.com visit based on your age/interest or your favorite Disney character.

For instance, if you select "Kids & Teens," you'll find games, video and music choices based on characters from High School Musical or Hannah Montana. Selecting "Boys" will bring up Cars, Kim Possible and Pirates of the Caribbean (the one I was most interested in, "Disney Fans" was unavailable for preview, but I was told it would include classic characters from movies and cartoons going all the way back to Steamboat Willie). Likewise with the "Character World" choices, you can bring up pages immersed in the themes of specific characters (Bob Iger really pushed the Tinker Bell/Fairies and POTC themes at his keynote. Think we'll be seeing much about them this year?).



Disney's goal is not just for you to use Disney.com as a jumping off point for other Disney-branded sites, they want you to stay and play a while--and share the experience with your friends and family. With that in mind, they're launching Disney Xtreme Digital (XD), a way of pulling together all your favorite Disney videos, games, trivia, avatars, etc. on your own personalized "channel." This is the most exciting feature of the new Disney.com. The page works very similar to your computer desktop, enabling you to drag and drop, minimize and move around the various components you choose. There are also messaging and chat options and other members can "rate" your page with virtual stickers. Disney XD is bandwidth heavy, though. Don't even think about using the site without a broadband connection.

Overall, I'm impressed with the changes Disney.com is making. Tightening up the navigation and adding customization are huge improvements. MySpace and YouTube, however, have spoiled (if you want to call it that) 'Net users by allowing people to add content on pretty much anything they choose. I'm curious to see how popular Disney XD will be when the content is limited strictly to the Disney universe. It's targeted toward kids, of course, and many adults will join in the fun, but how long will they keep coming back?

[mikeland]

The new webpage looks NICE!!!

[cellarhound]

Looks like an improvement to me...

[dbm20th]

I am waiting to see if they update the vacation stuff. How about booking ADR's online? Or tours? Things like that. Whether or not I get to see a commercial for the latest direct-to-video messquel is meaningless to me.

[cellarhound]

Originally Posted by dbm20th

I am waiting to see if they update the vacation stuff. How about booking ADR's online? Or tours? Things like that. Whether or not I get to see a commercial for the latest direct-to-video messquel is meaningless to me.

That and does it spill over to Go.com and its' other sub-domains? How does it all relate...

Questions, questions, questions... Dang, I wish I was there to ask them...